Blind Spot
by orange-sauce
Summary: A tale dealing with what may have gone one within Gai's team during the three years Naruto was training with Jiraiya, but mostly, Neji and Tenten. Will Neji be able to fully master his Byakugan? Rated T for violence and romance in later chapters.


For my second fic I'm keeping with the Naruto romance scene; a bit more confident this time, this is a little story which primarily deals with the NejiTen popular pairing of a prettyboy and an under-used, but cool, female character. It takes place roughly parallel in time to my previous fic, about a year after Naruto left to train with Jiraiya. Primarily inspired by the Naruto community I recently joined that's big on NejiTen despite the fact that I used to not care much for Tenten, at least, I'm now into it enough to write this. And of course, this can also be called a gift to my friend Ame-chan for helping get me more into NejiTen and also just being generally cool to me. Well, enough intro; here we go. But of course, first:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, or any form of the franchise. I'm just a big fan.

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**Blind Spot**

**By: Justin Morgan (aka Erias, etc)**

The wind softly rustled the leaves of several nearby trees. A stream softly caressed his ears with the light trickle of naturally running water. Several birds and other small animals could be heard, doing anything from broadcasting beautiful songs to quietly moving around in the brush. The temperature was perfect, slightly cool but not enough to cause any form of chill.

Hyuuga Neji sat cross-legged on the soft earth, eyes closed and concentrating. Not only had he been undergoing physical training, but also the mental and spiritual training needed to harness the full potential of the Hyuuga clan's potent taijutsu style. Not only that, but training each area of his being and utilizing his genius talent, Neji would be in-general better prepared for the challenges that lie ahead, and hopefully not come so very close to death if he is to face such awesome opponents as he has before. Seeing his teammates and peers catch up to and even surpass him is still quite unacceptable, even if he has finally learned that non-genius ninja and people with all sorts of histories, whether they be pleasant or as harsh as his, can attain strength immeasurable. He still possesses the blood of an elite clan, and the mind of an utter genius, and if he compounds onto those facts a raw lifestyle of training and honing himself, he can still be an extremely formidable force to anyone who opposes him.

Taking in the flawless serenity of this fine day, Neji slowly inhaled and exhaled, finishing his meditation session. He was now well-rested after his recent physical training, and ready to, once again, work on the one thing which has been bothering him the most—and the one thing which he has by far spent the most of his time trying to perfect. There was a very small area on the backside of his neck, slowly decreasing in size (but by very miniscule amounts) since he first began to use his family's finest technique, from which he couldn't accurately sense anything. A small cone from the 'sphere' of sight generated by the legendary Byakugan, which was incapable of seeing anything at all.

In other words, a blind spot.

For years Neji has known about this one fatal weakness, and for years he has tried his very hardest to rid himself of it. And now, from two simple facts he learned; the fact that any man, through hard enough work, can overcome his weaknesses, and the fact that a ninja must have near enough to zero weaknesses as possible if he hopes to survive; Neji is trying harder than ever, devoting more and more energy each and every day, to delete this flaw from his otherwise superb existence as a fighter. And thus, again today…

"BYAKUGAN!"

Neji's eyes instantly opened wide, veins bulging around them, characteristic of this amazing technique which utilizes the Hyuuga clan's centuries-trained human optics to their very fullest. Neji now sat statue-still, using his senses to track a distant squirrel on a tree directly behind his head. Concentrating as if his life depended on it, he followed the squirrel to various branches, across several limbs, and then down the trunk of a…

"…Dammit! DAMMIT!"

Neji lost the faraway rodent. It had just been on the tree moments before, but he didn't sense it move and then it wasn't there. It was near the edge of his roughly 100-meter maximum distance of sensing, but close enough that he should have sensed it move. But it got too low. Though struggling, Neji just couldn't grasp what the squirrel did once it reached that cursed vertical level parallel to where the back of his neck was facing. It was like a normal person trying to look cross-eyed to see the front of their nose, and shared a similar feeling of dizzying numbness, but that feeling was at least tenfold more profound when Neji tried to force his Byakugan to see through that one area it simply could not. Neji tried. He tried his very hardest. He thought of Lee and how hard he trained to go from horrible at taijutsu to a complete master of it.

But something was missing, something just wasn't right.

Something that should have been there just wasn't there. Something needed to FORCE Neji to activate his Byakugan flawlessly, and see even where his mind tried to prevent him from seeing.

He couldn't just look at a squirrel on a calm day and hope that the blind spot would go away. He couldn't just count birds calmly and hope he was correct.

He needed a push.

This is when he got an interesting idea… He walked a ways down a path, coming close to a clearing at which the sounds of objects firmly hitting solid wood were heard easily.

"Tenten! Would you like to be my training partner for awhile today?"

The thuds of sharp metal gauging into tree trunks stopped, and a figure was seen walking up to the scarred giants and removing several of the tools. Putting them into a bag of ninja equipment, the figure walked out of the clearing and onto the path, standing in front of the Hyuuga boy. The figure was a fit, attractive young lady in a pink uniform, with long brunette hair fixed up in a Japanese odango hairdo probably to keep it out of her face when training or in battle without forcing her to shorten it. She had a full array of ninja shurikens, kunai, and other small throwing objects sharp enough to easily penetrate wood—or even easier, flesh. She was obviously a dart master, an adept at throwing weapons and the most proficient with them in her age group. Though she was tough, kind, attractive, intelligent and skillful all at once, she had little time for romance as not only were both her partners constantly on training schedules, but she herself refused to be judged as a weak female, especially after what happened at the last Chuunin Exam she attended. Though, all this is not to say that she isn't capable of wishing for romance on occasion, especially at her age.

"Of course, Neji. Anytime you need me, I'm here."

"Hm. Very well. Now, get ready, I have little time to fool around. Let's hurry and get warmed up, shall we?" The Hyuuga placed both hands in front of him and closed his eyes, calmly. But a few seconds later, he again suddenly opened them and formed the look of strain on his face. "BYAKUGAN!"

Tenten didn't have much time to be startled, nor much reason to be as this had been witnessed by her many a time in the past. Without a moment of delay, she equipped several throwing utensils and, leaping into the air, launched them toward Neji. She would have been worried, but she knows he has no chance of being hit by a simple projectile under almost any circumstance.

As planned, the boy easily blocked/dodged each projectile, using minimal effort for this warm-up exercise. Once finished, he kept the Byakugan going as he looked toward his female partner.

"Now, try and hit my back."

Neji turned around, arms crossed, waiting for Tenten to deliver the next wave. While this was slightly odd, Tenten didn't pay it much heed. Again she attacked, hurling metal objects of various shapes toward the long-haired young man. As simply and effortlessly as before, Neji dodged or deflected each piece, greatly putting his Byakugan to use as usual. Standing with crossed arms again, he continued facing the other way, and gave another order.

"Go for my head. Aim for nothing else."

Tenten was beginning to get a slight sense of uneasiness, knowing that if she did this to anyone who lacked the Byakugan or some other form of heightened senses, there's a high chance she would mortally wound or outright assassinate them. But she knew Neji more than anyone, probably, and knew that this probably posed very little threat to him. She was around him a lot, and they used each other's abilities often to heighten themselves even more. To be honest, even with someone as seemingly-emotionless as Neji and hardworking as Tenten, it's surprising that nothing has seemed to grow between these two teenagers, both endowed with above average physical appearance and almost downright attractive prowess as ninja; and yet, it's also kind of expected, seeing as how bent Neji is, and has been, on little more than becoming a powerful ninja and keeping up what respect he's gained from the Hyuuga head family. However, though Tenten may seem fairly stern herself, she has always respected Neji very much… more than even Lee, his rival, respected him, which was a lot. In fact, more than anyone else has probably ever respected him…

"Alright", was the short reply as she gathered up even more from her arsenal and shot them with pinpoint accuracy toward Neji's head. With simple jerks of his neck, Neji was able to avoid each projectile from even so much as snipping a hair.

"Now, Tenten… aim for my neck", said the boy as he yet kept his previous position, facing the other way.

"But, Neji… why?", replied Tenten. She was now finding the training session a bit on the odd side.

"Just… do it.", said Neji.

"But.. Oh, well, whatever you want. Okay, here I come!"

Tenten gathered most of the remainder of her throwing weapons and sent them all toward the back of the Hyuuga's neck. Similar to last time, but requiring a bit more movement, Neji was able to outmaneuver…some of the projectiles. A few of them, however, not only cut strands of hair, but nipped at a couple spots on either side of his neck. A small drip of blood trickled down the corner of each minute cut.

"N…Neji! I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize. That wasn't enough, Tenten. Keep them coming."

"But…Neji…", said the girl. Things weren't looking very good, and she was worrying a bit now.

"Just do it, Tenten! Don't argue with me!" His voice was stern.

"A-alright… Just… please don't let me hurt you…"

Shaking off the feeling, Tenten guessed that Neji just wanted to work on this area—perhaps he was hit in the neck with a rock or something and it startled him, so he wanted to make sure he could protect that area well. She understood somewhat, but would rather find another way to help Neji perfect his defense than having her possibly hurt him.. Either way, Tenten shrugged it off and readied some of her last weapons before she'd have to pick the previous ones out of the ground. She kneeled down into an attack stance, kunai between each set of fingers, and then, with the eyes of a hawk, she delivered them each toward Neji's slightly-bleeding neck. Throwing knife after throwing knife quickly whizzed by his head, most being unable to contend with his Byakugan's knowledge of their distance, speed and angle. However, there was, as always, that one small cone of nothingness that Neji couldn't predict the course through. Taking a split-second too long cursing his weakness, Neji suddenly felt the sharp, cold tongue of steel slash through the flesh on either side of his neck. The cuts were now a bit deeper, and there were several more. Blood began trickling down both sides of his neck at various places, but he stood still firmly, though vibrating a bit and gritting his teeth from anger at his failure.

"Neji! Neji, let's.. stop this weird training! Let me bandage your---"

"Shut up! Tenten, we're not done! This is NOTHING! You have some kunai left, now AIM for the center of the back of my neck! Make it forceful! Do it as if you were going to assassinate me!"

"N-Neji! What… what's wrong with you! I don't want to hurt you anymore.. stop making me do this! I'm not going to throw any more at you! Come on, let's get this bandaged up…"

"…GrrrrAHH! I can't employ the help of anyone else for this! You're the only one skilled enough to do it! Ugh… do I have to explain it to you! Tenten, haven't you noticed! Sometimes if I try to count birds.. .or track something with my Byakugan, that is directly behind me… Sometimes.. I can't see it! Didn't you realize how I managed to be pierced by two arrows after that mission to save the Uchiha! I… I have a blind spot in my Byakugan! It's imperfect! If you don't put me in a life-threatening situation—if it isn't FORCED by something like a life-threatening situation—nothing else will do! Now come, Tenten! Don't worry about me!"

"N-Neji…", Tenten said, almost frightened now. She wasn't surprised or disappointed by Neji's imperfect Byakugan, she just didn't want to hurt him… at all. She just wanted to take him and heal him and help him find some other way to perfect his ability… but at this point, there was no arguing with him.

"Neji… I… I really don't want to go through with this, but…" She reached down and took the final kunai from her pouch, and readied it for a toss. Her hand trembled a bit, and in fact her arm and whole body began to vibrate slightly, but she managed to calm herself a bit, trying to convince herself that Neji must have only been tired or something earlier and that even with a blind spot he'd never take more than a slight scratch from her kunai. Finally, she brought her arm back and then launched it forward, her heart beating heavily and her eyes just about to well up with tears, every ounce of her soul praying to Heaven that this kunai not hurt her dear Neji… but then…

The kunai was caught but inches from the Hyuuga's neck.

"I don't know what you guys are doing.. but it looks too rough for me to let you continue. What's gotten into you, Tenten!"

The bandaged arm brought the kunai down and then dropped it onto the earth. There stood the proud, young green beast of Konoha, having just possibly saved the life of his comrade from a trembling girl, with the look that she's about the break down—or at least saved him from a good few days of training while he lay in the hospital.

"L-Lee.. I… It's not how it looks, I…", said Tenten, struggling with her words.

"…You fool. She wasn't trying to hurt me, we were just fixing a problem. You didn't have to catch it.", spoke Neji, firmly.

"Neji… I'm still not sure what's been going on, but… and Tenten, you really don't seem like yourself at all.. Are you sure everything's alright?"

Neji attempted to hide his damaged neck with his hair, as long as Lee was facing his back. "It's nothing. She was helping me with my training. We do it all the time. Stop worrying, go back to your father-son picnic with Gai-sensei or something." Neji then silently, disappointedly walked off into the distance, shutting off Byakugan and not once turning around.

Lee looked to the girl. "Tenten…", he said, as he rushed over to catch her from collapsing.

"Lee, he… he…."

"It's okay, Tenten. I think I know what he's going for. I've been watching him very closely for a long time now, and I've figured out that there's something imperfect in his Byakugan. It seems that there's a spot around the back of his neck which emanates an invisible area which his Byakugan can't see through. And ever since he came back from the hospital after our fight with those high-level Sound nin, I think he's been trying to eliminate that blind spot from existence. But.. using you? He must know how much you care about him… I've noticed that, too.."

"…Lee." Tenten shook her head and rid herself of a few stray tearlets that had begun to form. "We… have to stop him before he hurts himself… Either we find some other way for him to overcome that imperfection, or we convince him that he'll have to live with it… which I know will be almost impossible for Neji…"

"I think I'll talk to Gai-sensei. Neji may not like it, but if it matters this much to him we should help him overcome his problem as a team. And…" Lee looked down. "I know how important it is to you, Tenten… I'll make sure that Neji gets better, and gets out of this gloomy stage…" He looks up again, this time with a shining smile. "That's a promise!"

"Lee… Thank you!" Tenten smiled. "Now… I'm going to try and talk to him… and tend to his wounds. I… scraped his neck a bit."

"It seems that your skills are improving as well, Tenten. Even with a blind spot, you'd probably not have been able to scratch Neji before… But…. Don't make a habit of using those skills against teammated! Hehehehe…cough Sorry! Now, off to see Gai-sensei about this!"

"Ah, yes… Later, Lee…"

Tenten got up and dusted herself off, as Lee sprinted into the distance, opposite of the direction Neji went. Tenten gathered up her various throwing weapons and put them into her ninja equipment satchel, as she removed a soft piece of white cloth and some simple bandages. With a sigh, she slowly walked toward where she hoped Neji would still be…

TO BE CONTINUED

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Well, I was aiming to write a nice little NejiTen oneshot, but it seems that this has turned into my first multi-chapter fic… It might just be two, but with the ideas that are flowing in my mind right now it could be more. It would be interesting to deeply explore exactly what Gai's team did during those three years, but as much as I love Lee as a character, this story's main focus will continue to be Neji and Tenten. cough Will Neji fully master his Byakugan? And if so, how? What about Tenten and his relationship? And how will Gai and Lee be of any help! Stay tuned! 


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